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Vanek double helps Sabres slice up Rangers in opener
2007-04-26
Thomas Vanek scored twice in four minutes as the top-seeded Buffalo Sabres cruised to a 5-2 home victory over the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference semi-final opener on Wednesday. The Austrian winger opened the scoring with a powerplay tally at 14:19 of the second period and made it 3-0 four minutes later after Ales Kotalik had doubled Buffalo's lead two minutes after the first goal. "We finally got the big powerplay goal and from there we just kept on rolling," Vanek told reporters after the opening game in the best-of-seven series. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was particularly impressed with Vanek's second goal. "That was a big-time tip and a big-time goal he came up with late in the period," Ruff said. "When you can get a 3-0 lead it is pretty tough (to overcome) in this league, usually." The Sabres had been held scoreless in the first period as Rangers's goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 15 stops and foiled four Buffalo powerplay opportunities. "I was pretty comfortable with the way we were playing," Ruff said of the opening 20 minutes. "We were creating lots of chances. "It's the time of the year where you don't get here unless you've got good goal-tending and their goaltender was playing exceptional. "We wanted to create enough chances where we could keep testing him, so we just kept going." The Sabres finally got their reward with a three-goal return from 13 second-period shots. Meanwhile, Sabres netminder Ryan Miller stopped the Rangers's first 29 shots and finished with 32 saves. Marcel Hossa pulled one back for New York at 10:44 of the third period before Buffalo's Jason Pominville made it 4-1 three minutes later. The teams traded goals in the final minute to complete the scoring. Brendan Shanahan scored on a powerplay for New York and Drew Stafford had an empty-netter for Buffalo with 16 seconds left. "We don't like (trading chances with Buffalo)," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We want to stay away from the track meet. They're just too quick, their transition game is excellent and they can score from any number of locations in their lineup." Game Two is in Buffalo on Friday. *Andy McDonald had three goals and an assist as the Anaheim Ducks overpowered the visiting Vancouver Canucks 5-1 to open their Western Conference semi-final series. McDonald struck twice in a three-goal first period for Anaheim, then wrapped up the scoring on a powerplay goal with 52 seconds remaining. He also assisted on the Ducks's other first-period goal by Teemu Selanne. The three-goal burst came after the Canucks took a 1-0 lead when Jeff Cowan scored seven minutes into the contest. Ryan Getzlaf added Anaheim's other goal in the third period. Game Two is in Anaheim on Friday.
Shanahan's overtime goal fires Rangers (2007-12-30)Thrashers get first win, top Rangers 5-3 (2007-10-18)Vanek double helps Sabres slice up Rangers in opener (2007-04-26)Rangers beat Thrashers, lead series 3-0 (2007-04-18)Shanahan strike gives Rangers 2-0 series lead over Thrashers (2007-04-14)
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